We interviewed Ajay Prakash from Rinse in the third installation of our real estate tech entrepreneur interview series of 2021.

Let’s get to it!

Who are you and what do you do?

Thanks for including me as part of this series. My name is Ajay Prakash and I am the Co-Founder and CEO of Rinse. We are building the first and largest national brand in clothing care and removing the friction that exists in dry cleaning and laundry.

What problem does your product/service solve?

Rinse is making trips to the dry cleaner and the washer & dryer obsolete while building the first national brand in clothing care. Simply put, we pick up, clean, and deliver our customers’ dry cleaning and laundry straight to their doors and let them focus on more important things. We launched in 2013 on a mission to remove all of the friction that exists on both sides of the dry cleaning and laundry business. With Rinse, we’ve created a superior experience for our customers, while standardizing processes and helping our local cleaning partners survive and thrive.

What are you most excited about right now?

2020 has been a very challenging year for our industry, but I believe the future for clothing care remains bright. I’m most excited about the path that Rinse is on and my hope is that we will emerge stronger coming out of the pandemic. We have built a service that gives our customers back 3+ hours per week on average to focus on themselves and their family, something that is more important than ever these days. In addition, we have developed some new products that make it easier for customers to use and discover Rinse. Specifically, Rinse Repeat, our subscription laundry product; Rinse for Business, the first employee benefit that picks up and delivers employees’ laundry and dry cleaning at their homes or offices; and Rinse for Rentals, a convenient add-on building amenity that brings our door-to-door laundry and dry cleaning services to renters everywhere.

What’s next for you?

Growth. We have started to see signs of recovery in dry cleaning, and we are well-positioned for strong growth in 2021 and beyond. Growth will come from continuing to scale and take market share in our existing markets (Bay Area, LA, DC, Chicago, and Boston) and launching new markets as we continue to expand our footprint. In addition, we are actively exploring acquisitions in our space. We have completed four to date, including our recent acquisition of DRYV in Chicago, and are excited to use M&A as a growth lever as we continue to scale and build the dominant national brand in the industry.

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

Outside of Rinse, the thing I am most passionate about is spending time with my wife and three daughters (ages 6, 3.5, and 2). The combination of building a startup and a family at the same time has been my primary focus for 7+ years now. In terms of causes that I am spending time on, one I am most interested in these days is climate change. My wife has dedicated a lot of her time and energy to climate change and I have become passionate (and educated) about the cause as a by-product, and it is an area that I plan to spend a lot more of my personal time and energy in and around going forward. In addition, Rinse has been eco-friendly since the beginning, with a focus on working with non-PERC cleaners, saving water and electricity, and taking clothing donations to minimize fashion waste. We plan to do even more in 2021 and beyond to not only make our practices even more environmentally-friendly but also accelerate change across our industry.

Thanks to Ajay for sharing his story. If you’d like to connect, find him on LinkedIn here.

We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop us a line (Community @ geekestatelabs dot com).